To build excitement for the launch of Halo Wars 2, Xbox and 343 Industries have partnered with Twitter, twofifteenmccann and EMT (Emerging Media Technologies) to create a social media real-time strategy game.

The game is played entirely through Twitter's DM platform, where players can engage with Isabel, the games' main AI, by clicking the pinned tweet, whereupon they'll be thrust into a battle.

It's essentially a training module for Halo Wars 2 and its new game mode, Blitz.

#TwitterHaloWars can be played against a friend or AI. In Player vs. Enemy, players train for war in a three round battle against the computer. Taking control of Captain James Cutter, they will get three units to deploy by tapping or clicking the designated buttons.

Player vs.Player works in the same way, but with one player taking the role of Atriox. If you want to challenge a friend, you can invite someone to battle by tweeting them with #TwitterHaloWars + their Twitter handle + @ISA1307_2.

There isn’t long to wait until you can get your hands on Halo Wars 2 now; the 21 February release date is fast approaching. There’s no reason to fear any delays, as 343 Studio Head Dan Ayoub recently revealed that the game has gone gold.

Have you tried battling a friend on Twitter? Excited to get your hands on the full release? Let us know in the forums or leave a comment below.